"Physicians believe it's time to lift this effective ban and fund the research needed to save lives," Chen said in the petition signed by more than 2,000 physicians and backed some Democratic lawmakers. "We urge Congress to put patients over politics to help find solutions to our nation's gun violence crisis."

Since 1996, Congress has barred the CDC from using federal funding to "advocate or promote gun control." That language, which emerged out of pressure from the National Rifle Association (NRA), effectively halted CDC's efforts to study gun violence because of concerns that it would risk losing even more funding.

"While we do have research showing the benefits of some laws such as handgun purchaser licensing with background checks for all handgun sales, there are relatively few studies of good scientific rigor that can tell us whether changes associated with gun laws are experienced by the individuals targeted by the law," Daniel Webster, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research, told CBS News.

Lawmakers who backed the petition echoed that sentiment.

"Regardless of where we stand in the debate over gun violence, we should all be able to agree that this debate should be informed by objective data and robust scientific research," said Rep. David Price.